Oskar Schindler Hero

Oskar Schindler represents human goodness with his actions during the Holocaust. Oskar starts as a man who only acts for

Oskar Schindler was not one to pass up an opportunity to make some money. He marched into Poland with the SS and dove head first into the black market. He soon began to make friends with the Gestapo, the secret state police, by softening them up with women, money and alcohol. His newfound connections helped him to acquire a factory, which he ran with the cheapest labor around, Jews. At first, it seemed like he was another German money-driven industrialist but somewhere along the way something changed.

Schindler's List is one of the most powerful movies of all time. It presents the indelible true story of enigmatic German businessman Oskar Schindler who becomes an unlikely saviour of more than 1100 Jews amid the barbaric Nazi reign. A German Catholic war profiteer, Schindler moved to Krakow in 1939 when Germany overran Poland. There he opens an enamelware factory that, on the advice of his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, was staffed by Jews from the nearby forced labour camp at Plaszow. Schindler's factory prospered though his contacts with the Nazi war machine and its local representatives, as well as his deft skill on the black market. Then, somewhere along the way, Schindler's devotion to self-interest was

Oskar Schindler rescued Jews from being deported to concentration camps by getting them to work for him. He treated them all very well and they were all exempt from Auschwitz. He got arrested on charges of irregularities and favoring Jews. He set up factories in Krakow, home of about 60,000 Jews. The factories primarily had Jewish workers. He got permission to keep his factories if he moved them to Brunnlitz. There were 700 men and 300 women deported to Auschwitz, when Schindler found out he got them released and sent to work for him. Oskar and his wife Emily both helped rescue Jews. Emily stopped a cattle car with 120 Jewish men in it and she convinced the SS officer that the men were needed for work. As a result the men were sent back to work for Oskar and Emily. Together they rescued over 1,000 Jews.

Schindler was a rescuer of the jews because he was not a fan of how they were treated. When asked why he saved them he replied by saying “I knew the people who worked for me. When you know people, you have to behave towards them like human beings.” Unlike the nazis and Hitler, Oscar Schindler saw jews as normal human beings and did not use them and make them do manual labor just to survive and not be killed. He did make them work just so the nazis did not come in and just kill all of them or take them back to a concentration camp and abuse them. The condition Oscar Schindler had was when he had the jews working for him that he didn’t want them to make any of the bullets functional and allow them to be fired and kill

The businessman also managed to keep the SS guards out of the camp, a tactic that allowed him to protect the Jews from hard labor. To avoid suspicion, he falsified employment records, claiming that many of the Jews were laborers with essential skills for the war effort. Schindler rescued approximately 1,200 Jews from the Nazi concentration camps. Schindler convinced the Nazis to allow him to set up a factory at Brunnlitz, the “factory” was merely a cover. As the Soviet Army approached Czechoslovakia, Schindler escaped from Moravia to western Germany with little more than his life and the clothes he wore. His assets were now in Soviet-controlled territory, and as a former Nazi he had little hope of regaining them. He and his wife survived with the help of Jewish organizations and members of his “list.” They funded the Schindlers’ 1949 emigration to Argentina, where he became a nutria (otter) rancher. This venture failed, as did his attempt in the late 1950s to operate a cement factory in

When you think of a World War II hero, you might think of a soldier who fought for his country and our freedom. Of course, anyone who fought in World War II should be considered a hero but there are many non-military heroes from that time too. Oskar Schindler is one of those people. He was a German industrialist, a spy, and member of the Nazi Party who is responsible for saving 1,200 Jews lives during the Holocaust by giving them jobs in his enamelware and ammunitions factories.

Schindler was a businessman that was set on making a great deal of money. He had many connections and an abundance of friends in the illicit business. “Never one to miss a chance to make money, he marched into Poland on the heels of the SS. He dived headfirst into the black-market and the underworld and soon made friends with the local Gestapo bigwigs, softening them up with women, money and illicit booze. His newfound connections helped him acquire a factory which he ran with the cheapest labor around: Jewish” (Jewish Virtual Library). “At first he seemed like every other usurping German industrialist, driven by profit and unmoved by the means of his profiteering. But somewhere along the line, something changed.” “In February 1939, five months after the German annexation of the Sudetenland, he joined the Nazi Party” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). “In December 1939, as occupied Poland was being torn apart by the savagery of the Holocaust, Schindler took his first faltering steps from

After Oskar gets hired as a Nazi, he “arrives in Krakow, and starts working in factories, hiring Jews. He becomes aware of the killings, gives information to Jewish underground organizations Oskar manages to open ‘subcamp’ at his factory where conditions are much better” (Roberts 99). If Schindler was caught doing this, he would have been captured, and put into a concentration camp himself. Oskar Schindler also risked his life many times when he traveled to different countries and managed to smuggle Jews to work in his factory: “Schindler’s journey to Budapest and his smuggling of the Zionists were activities that if Schindler had been caught, he would have been charged of treason and would have been imprisoned in a concentration camp to torture and murder him” (McConnell 206). Oskar Schindler was an unforgettable man that put his life in danger to save as many defenseless Jews as possible. When he rescued the men and women in the camps, he gave them jobs at his

He used his connections with people to bring certain Jews to work for him in his factory. Itzhak Stern was a Jewish accountant, who helped Schindler make money for his factory. Stern had a big part in why Schindler changed how he felt about the Jews. Stern was a very intelligent man, who had ideas on how to help save the Jews, but he

Oskar Schindler wanted to save as many people as he could and to do that he was willing to do anything. " He spent every bit of money he had left in his possession and traded his wife's jewelry." ( Steinhouse 9) When he had made enough he furnished a secret hospital for the Jews. This shows how dedicated he was to saving people and how important it was to him. Another reason he was willing to do anything was that he knew, what was going to happen to them if he didn't step in and help. To keep the SS away his "employees records were falsified. Old people were recorded as being twenty years younger, children were listed as adults. Lawyers, doctors, and engineers were registered as metal workers." (Steinhouse 4) This example tells you how much he cared about keeping these people safe. Lastly, he took so many risks to help them but through it all he had to have hope. Cause if he didn’t all his workers wouldn't have any either. "Perhaps I had become fatalistic, or perhaps I was just afraid of the danger that would come once the men began to lose hope and acted rashly. I had to keep them full of optimism." (Stienhouse 10) When Schindler said that, he showed the world how selfless he was. He never once thought about himself, it was always about those who were worse off. Oskar Schindler helped many people in many different way, he never let anything stop

helped so many Jewish people. Schindler definitely was not a man of many morals, but his

Schindler managed to save 1,100 people from the suffering. For many, Schindler was a true hero, though he wasn’t born a perfect man. Think about firefighters, police officers, or criminal judges, they are not born with a gun or a gavel in their hands, they had a triggering point in their lives that led them to be the persons they are now. Likewise, author Elie Wiesel was a prisoner in concentration camp. When Wiesel finally got out of the concentration camp, he realized that Jewish people were being ignored by the world and this was his triggering point to become a hero through writing. In his “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” Wiesel says, “…that the world did know and remained silent. And that's why I swore never be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation”. For many Wiesel was a hero too, because he inspire others, through his writings, to not be indifferent to human grieving. In my own experience all heros have a turning point in their lives that led them to become an altruistic person. For example my turning point was when I use to have cancer. When I overcame cancer, it made me realize that I could be an inspiration for others to fight for their dreams, and for that reason I was a hero for many of my friends and family. Just like I did, Schindler became a hero because he had a triggering point that one way or another shaped him into a

Oskar Schindler faced many conflicts in his life. The main conflict he faced was overcoming the Nazis and saving over one thousand Jewish People. Schindler, with out a job at the time, joined the Nazi Party and followed on the heels of the SS when the Germans invaded Poland. This is when Schindler took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products and opened up his own enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. There, he employed mostly Jewish workers, which saved them from being deported to labor camps. Though twice the Gestapo arrested him, he got released because of his many connections and with many bribes. Most

[War] brings out the worst in people. Never the good, always the bad. Even in the midst the devastation of a national genocide, where one race turned against another in hate, good people existed and worked to counteract the hate through love and compassion. Oskar Schindler was one of these people. World War II provided him the means to become a very wealthy and powerful man, yet he did not exploit the Jews like many other businessmen during his time. He used his money and power to save thousands. Much can be learned from what happened during the holocaust and what Schindler did to save thousands of Jews.